Today it is possible to capture a high-resolution image sequence with multi-million pixels. Even inexpensive digital cameras have a picture resolution of 3-5 million pixels. Current specifications of digital cinema standards define input frame size of 4096×2180 pixels with 36-bit color palette. It is quite conceivable that in the near future, the technology will be capable of capturing 16 to 48 million pixels with full color.
With increases in spatial resolution, the data size of individual frame increases dramatically. Current processor technologies are not likely to have quantum improvements in terms of clock cycle or memory sizes that are needed to handle the increased resolution of image sequences. The need for alternative architectures to handle exponential increase in data from image sensors is immediate and highly desired.